Representatives demand vote on lawmaker stock trade ban within 30 days

Watch Representatives demand vote on lawmaker stock trade ban within 30 days - Straight Arrow News on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00Members of Congress say enough is enough.

00:02They don't want lawmakers trading stocks,

00:04and they're determined to end the practice within the next year and a half.

00:10A bipartisan group, which includes fiscal conservatives like Chip Roy

00:14and Democratic socialists like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,

00:18introduced a bill to ban members and their families from stock trading.

00:22When members of Congress come here,

00:24they should not be able to profit off of inside information

00:27that the average American and the average market participant does not have access to.

00:32The bill prohibits lawmakers, their spouses, dependent children,

00:35and their trustees from owning, buying, or selling individual assets like stocks and securities.

00:41The bill requires members to divest those assets within 180 days of its passage

00:46or within 90 days for incoming members who were just elected.

00:50If anyone says, you know, this isn't fair,

00:54I'm going to have to divest all my stocks if I'm going to run for Congress,

00:58maybe you should stay home.

00:59In an effort to ensure compliance,

01:01members will be allowed to defer any capital gains taxes

01:04when they divest individual stocks by reinvesting them in a mutual fund.

01:09If members don't comply,

01:10they'll have to pay a fine equal to 10% of the covered asset,

01:14plus hand over profits from any transaction.

01:17The bill does allow members to put money in mutual funds and ETFs

01:21that are diversified and not specific to an industry or business.

01:25We won't make you have a big tax bill,

01:27but you are going to have to, you know,

01:29divest of all of its individual equities

01:30and put them into broadly held funds

01:31so you're not being able to day trade.

01:33The lawmakers want leadership to bring this bill up for a vote this month.

01:37If not, they say they'll bring forward a discharge petition,

01:41which would force a vote.

01:42I'm Ray Bogan for Straight Arrow News.

01:44For more unbiased reporting straight from our nation's capital,

01:47download the SAN app.